The rare daily word game sweeping the globe. Find what's hidden in plain sight.
HORMESIS
Definition of HORMESIS
noun
A phenomenon in which an environmental agent or stressor produces a stimulatory or beneficial effect at low doses and an inhibitory or harmful effect at higher doses, corresponding to a biphasic dose-response relationship.
Wiktionary · CC BY-SA
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Ancient Greek ὅρμησις (hórmēsis), from Ancient Greek ὁρμή (hormḗ).
Etymology via Wiktionary (CC BY-SA).
Word DNA
Line of descent
- Ancient Greek
- English
One recorded step before English.
Deepest traced root
3rd
of 59 source languages in OUTLIER
12.4%
of traced words share this origin (10,375)
branch · 12.4% of traced words
How it is built
OUTLIER scores every word on how unusual it is, and that number is not published. Working it out at the board is the game.
HORMESIS in OUTLIER
Players have found it on 2 boards so far.
It first turned up on Day 140, 7 October 2026. The most recent board was Day 153, 20 October 2026. Nobody has seen it on a board for 18 days.
First found by a player on Day 140, 7 October 2026.
Built from these letters
HORMESIS starts with H and ends with S. Sorted, its letters read EHIMORSS - the shape to hunt for when the grid is scrambled. S appears more than once.
Same letters, different word
One other word uses exactly these letters. Worth knowing at the board: an anagram fits a grid the same way.
Could you have found HORMESIS?
OUTLIER is a daily word game. One grid, the same grid for everybody, and the words nobody else spots are the ones that pay. This word was on Day 140 - and most players walked straight past it.
Play today's OUTLIER